Lattice cutting 8% of workforce

SAN FRANCISCOLattice Semiconductor Corp. plans to cut its workforce by 8 percent to cut costs after posting sequential improvements in sales and net loss for the quarter ended July 4, the company said Thursday (July 23).

Lattice President and CEO Bruno Guilmart said in a statement that the company plans to move its warehouse to Singapore during the present quarter to improve shipping times to most customers and reduce inventory on hand.

The company will cut its headcount by about 8 percent to "even better align our resources with our new operating model, bringing us closer to our goal of sustained profitability," Guilmart said.

Last year, Lattice cut about 125 jobs, or 14 percent of its workforce, as part of a restructuring plan to better align operating expenses with near-term revenue expectations.

Lattice (Hillsboro, Ore.) posted a GAAP net loss of $2.7 million (2 cents per share) for the second quarter, down from $5.8 million (5 cents per share) in the prior quarter and $13.6 million (12 cents per share) in the same period of 2008, the company said.

Second quarter revenue was $46.9 million, up 8 percent from the first quarter, but down 19 percent compared to the second quarter of 2008, Lattice said.

FPGA revenue for the second quarter was $17.2 million, up 11 percent from the first quarter and up 28 percent from the same period of 2008, Lattice said. PLD revenue for the second quarter was $29.7 million, up 7 percent from the first quarter and down 34 percent from the year-ago quarter, Lattice said.

"We continued to make progress in the second quarter as we executed on our focused product strategy under our improved operating structure," Guilmart said. "We benefited from continued strength in the Chinese telecom market, and a slight improvement of our business in Japan and the U.S., which helped offset continued weakness in Europe."

Lattice said it expects revenue for the current quarter to be between $46 million and $48.3 million, including the expected reduction in revenue of about $2 million due to a transition of distribution model. The company is changing changing certain distributors from a sell-in to a sell-through business model, Guilmart said.